Do I ship it?

Games › Arena Shooter › Arena Shooter + Survival

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Arena Shooter Survival game?

Arena Shooter + Survival

Of 181 developers who shipped an Arena Shooter Survival game in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 230 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 105 developers shipped in the last year and 230 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue up 30% on the market, 230 announced, ×2.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Arena Shooter + Survival
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 181
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $899 → $599 → $836 → $1.3k → $358 → $599 → $299 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Arena Shooter + Survival: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 181
Bottom 30% $90 (exactly $90)
Median $358 (exactly $358)
Top 25% $2.4k (exactly $2,398)
Top 5% $72k (exactly $71,706)
Developers, 2 yr 181
Released games 501
Announced 230
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue up 30% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Arena Shooter
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Survival
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Arena Shooter, Survival; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Bullet Hell, Action Roguelike
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 81% positive over 11,267 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $90, median $360, 1 in 4 over $2.3k, 1 in 20 over $71k.

3 in 10 developers made under $90. 9 in 10 of the 86 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 230 games are announced against 105 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Arena Shooter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + IncrementalFair15 devs · median $3.5k · 20 announced
  2. + DemonsFair54 devs · median $1.3k · 55 announced
  3. + 2D PlatformerFair45 devs · median $809 · 43 announced
  4. + Multiple EndingsFair18 devs · median $597 · 16 announced
  5. + CollectathonLong shot12 devs · median $150 · 13 announced
  6. + DeckbuildingPoor odds9 devs · median $3.1k · 26 announced
  7. + Bullet HeavenPoor odds75 devs · median $2.3k · 101 announced
  8. + Class-BasedPoor odds19 devs · median $2.2k · 50 announced
  9. + Boomer ShooterPoor odds133 devs · median $1.8k · 165 announced
  10. + Dark FantasyPoor odds59 devs · median $1.7k · 85 announced
  11. + On-Rails ShooterPoor odds10 devs · median $1.5k · 11 announced
  12. + RPGPoor odds88 devs · median $1.4k · 124 announced

All 134 pairs on the Arena Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Brotato 2023 · $17M Devil Daggers 2016 · $2.2M Quake Live 2014 · $1.3M Vampire Hunters 2024 · $873k God Of Weapons 2023 · $864k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Brotato older $4.99 111,407 95% 3.3M $17M (exactly $16,677,628) Blobfish
Devil Daggers older $9.99 7,442 96% 223k $2.2M (exactly $2,230,367) Sorath
Quake Live older $9.99 4,361 88% 131k $1.3M (exactly $1,306,992) id Software
Vampire Hunters $14.99 1,941 89% 58k $873k (exactly $872,868) Gamecraft Studios
God Of Weapons older $5.99 4,807 84% 144k $864k (exactly $863,818) Imagine Games
Arms of God · EA $11.50 1,871 88% 56k $645k (exactly $645,495) Dark Jay Studio
TerraTech Legion $9.99 2,109 81% 63k $632k (exactly $632,067) Payload Studios
Alien Shooter 2 - The Legend older $14.99 1,087 52% 33k $489k (exactly $488,824) Sigma Team Inc.
FatalZone $6.99 2,125 66% 64k $446k (exactly $445,612) Midhard Games
Geometry Arena older $5.99 2,114 95% 63k $380k (exactly $379,886) 011 Games
Funguys Swarm $9.99 1,114 89% 33k $334k (exactly $333,866) Stairway Games
FROGGY HATES SNOW $14.99 456 91% 14k $205k (exactly $205,063) CRYING BRICK
HELLBREAK $14.99 275 76% 8.3k $124k (exactly $123,668) Double Barrel Games
Last Man Sitting $9.99 357 77% 11k $107k (exactly $106,993) DoubleMoose Games
Star Survivor $4.99 540 67% 16k $81k (exactly $80,838) SpaceOwl Games, Erabit
Dark Fairy Tale: Dreamland Survivors $4.99 479 90% 14k $72k (exactly $71,706) BINGOBELL

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.